Knoxville
The Knoxville & Asheville Railroad is a railroad company that runs from Knoxville, Tennessee to Asheville, North Carolina, with connections to Greenville, South Carolina; Erwin, Tennessee, Hendersonville, North Carolina; and Pikeville, Tennessee. In the golden age, the K&A connected to 5 other major railroads and a couple of shortlines. History Sheldon T.C. Hartford started being involved in railroading at the age of 15 in 1877 when he left home to start working for the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad to help build the line under the command of former U.S. General, William Jackson Palmer. He was a participant in the railroad's 1877 - 1880 war with the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad (he even bought himself some personal customized firearms). By the mid 1880s, the D&RG was completed and Sheldon not only became a stockholder of the D&RG, but also an employee of the railroad, as Locomotive Engineer, roundhouse foreman, and a mechanic. By 1900, Sheldon had made himself a fortune and planned to build a railroad for his own. Moving to Knoxville, Tennessee (where his grandparents were located), he began buying stock in the depleading Knox County & Smoky Mountain Central Railroad Company. By early January 1905, Sheldon was in complete control of the KC&SMC and bought the railroad outright. With big dreams of extending the line towards Asheville, North Carolina, he renamed the railroad, the Knoxville & Asheville Railroad Company. After gaining a lot of investors, he managed to hire his friend, General Palmer to help drive the construction of the railroad and several Cherokees to guide them through the mountains so the railroad won't intervein on their land. Ten railroad hired several immigrants (sometimes straight off the boat) from Italy, Ireland, France, Russia, Great Britian, Scotland, and Germany (as well as a few Chinese) to built the railroad. One of these immigrants was a young German engineering scholar by the name of Fredrick Muller who was instantly hired as one of the railroad's chief engineers. Together, Muller, alongside General Palmer, steering the building force of the Knoxville & Asheville Railroad. One interesting scene they built was the track around Long Neck Point, where the cliff face shown the skeletal remains of a long neck dinosaur, long extinct for millions and millions of years. By March 1905, he reached the summit of the mountains decided to build a locomotive repair facility and a town to house his employees. He named the town after himself. On April 7th, 1905, the K&A recieved the delivery of its first new locomotive, an experimental 2-8-2 mikado type locomotive straight from Baldwin Locomotive Works in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The locomotive, numbered 1, was later named Smokey after rescuing a stranded train from a forest fire. On June 7th, 1905, the railroad finally drove its last spike and the railroad was complete, with U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt present at the ceremony. Of course, once completion of the railroad was done, the railroad's first passenger express train, the Smoky Mountain Limited, ran its first service on July 4th, 1905 behind locomotive #1 "Smokey" (officially named Smokeford Joesph Hartford on the paperwork). In the railroad's early years, the motive power consisted of locomotives inherited from the defunct Knox County & Smoky Mountain Central, several second hand locomotives, and locomotives leased from other neighboring railroads such as the Southern Railway and the Louieville & Nashville Railroad. As time would go on however, the railroad managed to buy some new locomotive straight from the builder, such as a new 4-6-2 Pacific from ALCo's Rogers works in 1909. The early 1900s was also a rough time for the Knoxville & Asheville Railroad, because of the robberies commited by the Smoky Mountain Gang, led by their leader Winston Hollomeyer, a former Stagecoach Tycoon and crooked businessman who lost his entire fortune when his customers started using the railroad as means of travel and to deliver their mail, goods, and produce to other places. After losing everything, he managed to form a team consisting of Ernesto "Black Jack" Gonzolez; Clifford "Red Cliff" Gannon; Sean "Mickey" O' Toole; Micheal "Big Mike" Dalton (rumored to be an illegenimate child of Bob Dalton), and Isabella "Fox" Gomez (Black Jack's half sister). Togehter, these 6 formed the Smoky Mountain Gang and they began to rob trains and terrorize innocent civilians around the smoky mountain area. Their biggest take was when they robbed a government gold train in 1910, by derailing the locomotive and making off with $135,000.00 in gold. But the day where the Smoky Mountain Gang would get its comuppance. The Railroad was getting tired of having its trains robbed, so they teamed up with the local sheriff and his deputies, several of the local Cherokees, and the U.S. Army to stop the Smoky Mountain Gang's reign of terror. During the winter of 1912 and 1913, the railroad built a secondary route to Sheldon, North Carolina, claming it was because of increasing traffic. In July 1913, Winston Hollomeyer caught a tip from a reliable source, that the Knoxville & Asheville Railroad was hauling a bank shipment of $3,000,000.00 on board the Smoky Mountain Limited and planed to use the secondary route to avoid detection from the robbers. On July 13th, 1913, the Smoky Mountain Gang, along with a few hired guns, hid behind some rocks along the railroad's secondary route, already having explosives planted in the cliffside in order to cause a landslide. Once the train came around the bend, the gang set off the explosives and a landslide blocked the tracks. The gang strode up to the baggage/express car and demanded to the expressmen to open the door. But once the door was opened, the gang became face to face with a gatling gun, in which the pinkertons immediately fired, taking out Back Jack, Red Cliff, Mickey, and Fox. Hollomeyer and Big Mike were injured. After taking out the hired guns, Hollomeyer and Big Mike were arrested, ending the reign of terror and the destruction they left behind. In 1914, the railroad gained a new neighbor, small shortline called the Waynesville & Southeastern Railroad Company. The first rails of the W&SE were laid on February 7th, 1914 and the railroad's first motive power where second hand locomotives from other railroads. The Knoxville & Asheville Railroad got the contract to deliver building supplies to the W&SE interchange at Waynesville, and in exchange, Sheldon would buy some shares in the railroad. The W&SE was completed in 1916, connecting to Greenville, South Carolina. More to come soon...Category:Locations Category:Knoxville and Asheville Railroad Category:Railroads Category:Companies